Late MU Rally Falls Short At Eastern Michigan

Greg Perry

11/30/2004

Ypsilanti, Mich. - Marshall University rallied from a double-digit second half deficit, but came up just short in a 90-88 loss at Eastern Michigan in Mid-American Conference men's basketball action Tuesday. A late 22-9 run enabled Marshall to cut the EMU lead from 17 to just 4 points late in the game...

The Thundering Herd (1-3 overall, 0-1 MAC) trailed the Eagles (3-1, 1-0 MAC) 51-41 at halftime, but managed to outscore their hosts 47-39 in the second half. Eastern's largest lead in the first half was 15 points, at 43-28 with 4:02 left.

"We weren't aggressive in the end. We cannot give up 51 points in the first half and have a chance to win it," Marshall coach Ron JIrsa said after the game.

The Herd's late run was spurred on by dual threes from Casey Wohlleb. Mark Patton's three with just 1:48 left cut the EMU lead to just 88-84. Patton also grabbed two offensive rebounds off missed MU free throws in the waning seconds of the game, but MU could not drain either of two three-point attempts as the final seconds counted down.

"They [EMU] got careful, and we were staying aggressive," Jirsa said of the second half run.

Freshman guard Joe Miles led the Herd with 20 points, with forwards Mark Patton and LaVar Carter contributing 14 points a piece. Patton led Marshall with 13 rebounds.

Both teams shot very well from the floor. The Eagles made 31-of-59 shots (52.5%), while the Herd made 28-of-56 shots (50%).

Marshall managed to block nine shots in the contest (six by Carter and three by Patton), however the Eagles won the turnover battle 18 to 22 and managed to keep the Herd from scoring on several game-winning opportunities in the closing seconds.

The Herd will match up against Conference-USA opponent UAB on Saturday night at the Henderson Center in Huntington. MU won the last meeting against UAB in Birmingham, and the game will give Herd fans a chance to see a future regular C-USA opponent for the first time in 2004. Game time is 7pm.